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Supercell acquires 62% of London’s Space Ape Games for $55.8M

Some consolidation is afoot in the world of gaming. Today, Space Ape Games — a London social and mobile games studio founded by alums from Playfish, Mind Candy and EA — announced that Supercell has acquired 62 percent of the company for $55.8 million, as part of a long-term strategic partnership. The deal gives Space Ape a total equity valuation of $90 million.

Space Ape’s co-founder and CEO John Earner says that Space Ape itself will continue to own 38 percent of the company, which has been behind the games Transformers: Earth Wars; Rival Kingdoms; and Samurai Siege. As part of the deal, Supercell is buying out stakes from previous investors, which include Accel, Northzone, Initial Capital and Sega. These and other previous investors collectively had put just over $14 million into the company up to now.

Space Ape has been profitable since the end of 2016, hitting $92 million in revenues last year, with $5 million in Q4 profit, according to this profile. Earner, in a blog post shared with TechCrunch, writes that the company has been talking with Supercell since 2016 to invest. In that time, the two have often been compared and for some might have been viewed as rivals. No sign of that today, as Earner describes the new shareholder as a “kindred company.”